The state of a computer, usually determined by which programs are running and basic hardware and software characteristics, refers to the computer's environment. One ingredient of a computer environment is the operating system. However, operating systems include a number of different parameters. In addition, the environment maybe an area in memory that the operating system and other programs use to store various types of miscellaneous information. All these elements taken together constitute the computer environment.
Recently, the advent of Internet cafes, as well as the on-going problem of maintaining computer networks, has led to increased efforts to provide uniform environments. As described herein, the term “uniform environment” refers to computer networks wherein the software configuration installed on one or more client computers within the computer network is identical. System provisioning is an important requirement in uniform environments in which the same software configuration is installed on one or more client computer within a computer network.
As described herein, the term “system provisioning” refers to a technique for deploying the software configuration installed on a selected client computer, referred to herein as “a golden computer,” to one or more client computers within a computer network within a computer network. Hence, system provisioning provides a solution for ensuring a uniform environment. However, the system may be updated periodically; e.g., installing a new driver or a new software. Unfortunately, to maintain the uniform environment, system provisioning requires deployment of a complete software configuration image to one or more client computers within a computer network to maintain the uniform environment. In other words, a complete software configuration image must be generated each time a new portion of software, or a driver, is added to the a client computer of the network.